Jews celebrating Sukkot in Jerusalem"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Dt 6: 4-7Web link: Shema Yisrael. What's behind the most famous Jewish prayer

NEWS FROM AND ABOUT THE HOLY LAND

31.10.2005: Jerusalem (al-Qods) Day marked in Beirut and DamascusToday, last day of Ramadan is Jerusalem Dayal-Qods Day, an important and strongly felt event throughout the Islamic world dedicated to solidarity with Jerusalem, a city dear to Muslims, home to the al-Aqsa Mosqu. (AsiaNews)

28.10.2005: Visit the Holy Land in a New Way with HCEFThe Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) encourages you to join us in January 2006 on a Christian pilgrimage and fact-finding mission to see the holy sites in Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. (HCEF)

27.10.2005: ITALY: Arab and Jewish schoolchildren find common ground abroadA group of Palestinian, Jewish and Israeli Arab teenagers attended high-schools in Rome and Florence this month - an initiative offering them welcome respite from the escalating violence in the Middle East and a chance to stand back from the conflict. (localhost)

26.10.2005: A Palestinian Christian Appeal for an Open and Shared JerusalemThis year we are blessed to celebrate the Jewish High Holidays at the same time as the Holy Month of Ramadan. Both Ramadan and Yom Kippur call for repentance and fasting, and Sukkot invites pondering the wanderings in this life, as it commemorates the Heb. (HCEF)

24.10.2005: A letter from LouisI will focus on what happened on Wednesday the last week. The day started with a blood red sunrise, a sign for the coming rain that day, which meant the beginning of the winter season. There was that day unusually much rain. (CTS News)

24.10.2005: Opinion"An official Vatican newspaper has reported that during his upcoming visit to the Vatican, President Moshe Katsav will sign an agreement giving parts of David's Tomb over to papal control." (israelnationalnews)

24.10.2005: Bethlehem on the hunt for touristsVictor Batarseh simultaneously painted a bleak picture of a war-racked city and a historic one with twinkling Christmas lights celebrating Jesus’ birth. Through a privately financed visit to five states, Batarseh hopes to get Americans to help rebuild the West Bank city’s infrastructure and book trips that include lodging in his city. (kansascity)

24.10.2005: Bethlehem Palestinians more optimisticBethlehem in the West Bank is almost completely enclosed by the separation wall and guarded by Israeli military checkpoints. Most Palestinian residents have not left the city in more than five years. (speroforum)

23.10.2005: Los Angeles pilgrims hear challenges of Holy Land ChristiansThirteen delegates from the Diocese of Los Angeles embarked on a 10-day pilgrimage to Israel and the Palestinian Territories October 16, building on existing partnerships with Episcopalians in the Middle East and expressing solidarity with Christians and others in the Holy Land. (Episcopal News Service)

23.10.2005: Message of the Synod of Bishops on the EucharistDuring the Twentieth General Congregation held yesterday, Friday 21th October 2005, the Synodal Fathers approved the Message of the Synod of Bishops to the People of God, at the conclusion of the XI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. (Zenit)

22.10.2005: Temple Mount tourA rare, exclusive video of holy site, after an Israeli was able to sneak camcorder into Mount. Prominent archeologist who watched video says Muslim renovation did not damage shrine (YnetNews)

20.10.2005: The Franciscan Presence in the Holy LandWith Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M., will be held at the Washington Theological Union, 6896 Laurel St., N.W., Washington, at 7:30 p.m. For information go to www.wtu.edu or call 202/726-8800. (catholicherald)

20.10.2005: Vatican manuscripts at Israel MuseumHigh ranking Vatican officials were amongst the special guests at the official opening of an exhibition of paintings from the Vatican library at the Israel Museum last week. (ejpress)

19.10.2005: Conclusion of the Year of the Eucharist at CapharnaumThe Custody of the Holy Land, at the conclusion of the Year of the Holy Eucharist, is organizing a special celebration: “I am the bread of life”. The celebration will be held at Capharnaum on Saturday, October 29, 2005 - hrs. 16.00. It will be presided by the Most Rev. Custos of the Holy Land. (CTS News)

19.10.2005: Religious disputes over Jerusalem require diplomacyWars have been fought over Jerusalem since its inception. It is a city that is holy to three major world religions. The Jews want Jerusalem because it is the city that King David ruled ancient Judea from. The Muslims want Jerusalem because it was there the prophet Mohammed ascended into heaven. The Christians want Jerusalem because they have always wanted the Holy Land. Maybe nobody should have it. (dailyvanguard)

19.10.2005: Christian prophetic voices face many battlesThe Reverend Donald Wagner, professor and director of the Center of Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University in Chicago for the past 10 years, has had his tenure appointment blocked and, with two other prominent Palestinian clergymen, is being subjected to a campaign of criticism and vilification in the American and Israeli press. (HCEF)

19.10.2005: Holy See Wants "Digital Society" Accessible to AllNew technologies should be tapped for "concrete efforts to build a more inclusive digital society which will reduce the widespread 'info-poverty,'" the Holy See urged at the United Nations. (Zenit)

19.10.2005: AP Interview: Bethlehem mayor pleads for financial aidThe mayor of Bethlehem, West Bank, said Tuesday his city is in such financial straits that it couldn't make its payroll last month, and is getting "zero" help from Christian churches that regard the city as Jesus Christ's birthplace. call “collective punishment”. (boston)

18.10.2005: Israel cracks down, puts on hold talks with PalestiniansThe Israeli government temporarily suspended all contacts with the Palestinian National Authority after three Israelis were killed in the West Bank accentuating its pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the eve of his trip to Washington. Palestinians protest against what they call “collective punishment”. (AsiaNews)

17.10.2005: Stations of the crossMore than a dozen Knesset members are part of the ‘Jewish-Christian’ lobby in the Knesset, and have traveled all over the world to address Christian groups and to drum up support for Israel. (ynetnews)

16.10.2005: The "Crisis in the Holy Land" videoWatch the "Crisis in the Holy Land" video, produced by the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land in cooperation with Stepstone Productions, Inc. Saint Louis, Missouri. Available on the FFHL website, as seen on EWTN. (CTS News)

15.10.2005: Benedict XVI addressing the general audience:"It is the hope of blessing on the faithful who love the Holy City, on their physical reality of walls and palaces in which the life of a people pulsates, on all brothers and friends. In this way, Jerusalem will become a home of harmony and peace." (Zenit)

14.10.2005: New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments“No scrolls have been found in the Judean Desert since 1965,” said Eshel. “The common perception has been that there is nothing left to find there, but that is clearly wrong.” (israeltoday)

12.10.2005: Abbas-Sharon summit postponed . . . againTomorrow’s planned summit between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has been postponed for several weeks, and will likely take place in late October or early November, Palestinian official Nabil Abu Rdeneh said. (AsiaNews)

12.10.2005: Birzeit's Seniors Honored at Weekend LuncheonMore than 100 seniors from Birzeit gathered with Fr. Issa Khoury of the local Greek Orthodox Church and the Latin Patriarchates Fr. Aziz Halaweh this past Saturday to celebrate International Seniors Day in the gardens adjacent to Birzeit's Latin Church. (HCEF)

11.10.2005: Peace and all good (11.10.05)Sometimes a lot of things happen on the same day. Last Tuesday was such a day. On the first place it was the feast of Saint Francis. For the celebration I went to Jerusalem, where I met several young friars, who I know from the time they studied in Bethlehem. (CTS News)

10.10.2005: 5 New Solemn Professed in the Custody of the Holy LandThis morning, the 9th of October 2005 in the Parish Church of the Friars Minor of St. Savior’s in Jerusalem, five Franciscan brothers took their solemn vows of obedience, poverty and chastity in the hands of the Custodian of the Holy Land Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa. (CTS News)

8.10.2005: Udeagu urges FG to support Christian pilgrimage from NigeriaImo State Deputy Governor Ebere Udeagu has urged the federal government to assist state governments in sponsoring Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 9,512 Christians undertook the pilgrimage in 2004, adding that the figure was the highest so far recorded in the country. (The Tide News)

7.10.2005: The Synod on the Eucharist: The Bread of Life vs the culture of deathAs for the link between the “Eucharist and peace”, the Patriarch invited his peers to remember Jerusalem and Palestine, spiritual home to all Christians, and say a word for peace in the Holy City and the Holy Land, key to peace in the Near East and in the whole world. (Asia News)

7.10.2005: October: And the Solemnity of St. Francis, Also in Jerusalem"Let us all rejoice in the Lord and the Solemnity of the Serafic Father, St. Francis, with us rejoice the angels and praise in the chorus the Son of God". So begins the entrance antiphon of the Mass that is being celebrated today in the church of St. Savior’s in Jerusalem’s Old City. (CTS News)

6.10.2005: Synod Reflects on a Key Ecumenical QuestionThe synod's working document acknowledges that "the manner of presenting the mystery of the Eucharist in ecumenical dialogue still needs clarification, so as to avoid two opposite extremes: complete exclusion beforehand and a relativism." (Zenit)

6.10.2005: Jewish and Muslim Holidays Coincide in Holy LandThe ram's horn was blown, as Israelis gathered in synagogues to observe Rosh Hashanah. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians were called to prayer. The Muslim faithful fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month, Ramadan. (VOA)

6.10.2005: Patriarch Theofilos of Jerusalem said...Patriarch Theofilos of Jerusalem said yesterday that the Orthodox Church is investigating the full extent of the land deals that the deposed patriarch, Irenaios, made with Jewish investors. (Ekathimerini)

5.10.2005: The challenge to deal with another cultureLetter from Louis Bohte, Bethlehem: "To deal with another culture is not always easy and is a challenge. I have to take in account the differences. But also the opposite is important." (CTS News)

5.10.2005: Evangelicals Get a Piece of the Promised LandIn a move geared toward solving northern Israel's unemployment crisis, increasing tourism to the country, and solidifying relations with U.S. evangelical Christians, the Israeli government has offered land on the shore of the Sea of Galilee for development by Christian evangelicals. (IPS)

3.10.2005: Cultural understadingIsrael's Italian community  both Jewish and gentile  turned out in force for the official opening at the Israel Museum of the "Rome to Jerusalem‘ exhibition of four illuminated Jewish masterpieces from the Vatican Library. (Jerusalem Post)